This interview with the DOF production team covers the inclusion of single player and MMO elements in the world of Dawn of Fantasy, the history of the studio and the extent modders can go in crafting their own world.

While you've seen the battles, drooled over the strongholds, heard all about the races and unit types, read up on MMORTS gameplay, you've heard very little about one of Dawn of Fantasy's greatest assets: its narrative storyline. For this reason, Reverie World is enthralled to present you with its first podcast discussion, in which DOF's Lead Writer, Gordon Farrell, discusses the high-concept narratives accomplished in Dawn of Fantasy with the staff from MMOGamer.com.

How do games become art? How do you tell a story with an RTS? Why are stories important? Why don't games have better writers? Furthermore, what about Dawn of Fantasy attracted Gordon Farrell, a published author, playwright, and screenwriter, an award-winning scenario designer, and a narrative writing professor at one of the US' finest universities?

Dawn of Fantasy's Milan-based publisher, 505 Games, sat down with Multiplayer.it for an exclusive video interview to show off Dawn of Fantasy through in-game footage. Regardless of whether or not you speak Italian (the interview's language), watching the video interview is a great chance to see nearly an hour's worth of raw in-game footage while listening to one of the most beautiful languages, quite possibly second only to Elven.

As mentioned, the footage is raw and the game is still in beta, so there are a few hiccups, but it does give players a really good idea of what to expect in Dawn of Fantasy!

Head on over to Multiplayer.it to watch the video - definitely worth at least a skim through even if the dialog will be lost on you!

In their preview of the Dawn of Fantasy beta, TenTonHammer greatly enjoys the combat and the multiple game modes and really like the innovation behind Dawn of Fantasy, with some final criticism of things we are working on fixing through the beta testing period - the lack of in-game documentation, animations, and voiceovers. As an update, our Lead Writer met with the new voice actors several times last month and our scripters are working on using the newly-recorded material to replace all current voiceovers as well as adding dialog in many places where there is currently none. Our 3D artists have been hard at work on overhauling the art, and have been pumping out some incredible new animations that really help with immersion! As for documentation, I am personally putting the finishing touches on the game's manual which contains a lot of "Getting Started" information that will make its way into in-game menus. We are also working on some beautiful new cinematics with a mix of traditional paintings and CGI effects that will draw the player into the MMO world. We will share a few of the stills with the fan community shortly.

TenTonHammer concludes: "Dawn of Fantasy definitely gets props for doing something different, and as it gets refined and upgraded over the course of its beta, will be a lovely niche title with zero competition."

Gaming press site, Multiplayer Online Game Directory, recently got their hands on the Dawn of Fantasy beta and wrote an early preview of the game, its races, and its modes from the perspective of someone relatively new to the RTS genre, an audience Dawn of Fantasy's unique gameplay strives to attract along with the more veteran strategy gamers.

RTSGuru got their hands on the Dawn of Fantasy open beta to dish out the dirt on the game's three modes, graphics, and features. Check it out for an idea of what's to come and a new perspective on the game's mechanics!

After having played an advance preview copy of Dawn of Fantasy, OnlineWelten praises the originality of the title and the many different aspects of town management. They admire the environment detail, but are hesitant about the unit model and animation quality - a feature Reverie World is currently working on improving. Their first impression is very positive, commenting on the persistent economies and the game's many modes. The game takes a fun and fresh approach to the genre, although the previewers hope some technical issues will be sorted out before its release.

Impressed with Dawn of Fantasy from the start, GamingXP enjoys the different view modes (RTS and World Map) and the game options when sieging. Although the interface and notification system could use improvement, Dawn of Fantasy has great depth, especially in its feature Online Kingdom mode. They praised the atmosphere of the game as well as the sheer scale of the battles, something rarely seen in the genre.

The editors at Gamona enjoyed Dawn of Fantasy's unit diversity, scale of the battles, and the different recommended playstyles for each race. They enjoyed elements of interaction, such as trade and diplomacy between cities, as well as the Online Kingdom quests which introduce the player to the game and gradually get more complex.

Despite the flaws of Google's automatic translation, this preview is a very entertaining, and well-researched read that focuses on the main elements of Dawn of Fantasy gameplay. Without having played the game yet, GameSource gave their opinions on the concept, technology, and ambition behind DOF and expressed some concerns and hopes for the game. One disclaimer - as most of you know, the single-player campaign revolving around Prince Erian was scrapped from the initial release. [In its place will be the MMORTS campaign and possibly a Conquer the World campaign - however, we do plan to release the original SP campaign at a later date as we already have it a little over 300 pages of polished script and a couple of the scenarios completed.]

According to the editors at Spazio, "Dawn of Fantasy is a title rich of possibilities…the real plus of this game is the chance to build and defend your own town with game mechanics close to Stroghold but placed in a MMO context. If developers will use the time still at their disposal in the right way, they will be able to deliver to gamers a fantasy RTS which can offer several hours of pure enjoyable gameplay thanks to huge battles and strategic sieges."

Despite some problems with the interface, MMORPG Italia praises Dawn of Fantasy's innovation, game modes, and AI, calling it a game that deserves more attention from fans of the genre. "In short: a good game, no doubt, in its solid gameplay and accurately tested."

Another great read from an Italian news site that received a preview copy of the game. EuroGamer's insightful preview sheds light on Dawn of Fantasy's many game modes, construction, formations, and interface. It also offers very kind words on Dawn of Fantasy's lore and immersion, which sets up a fresh, new take on the fantasy world of elves, orcs, and men.

In their advance preview of Dawn of Fantas, EveryEye praises Dawn of Fantasy's unit diversity, RPG elements, and scale. It has some trepidation over the model quality, but understands that it was done to allow thousands of units on a map - and the graphics are still being improved on. A very informative read!

The folks at Vandal praise Dawn of Fantasy's atmosphere (noting the nice weather and audio effects) and the speed and scale of the game, as well as the varying strategies for field and stronghold battles. Despite the fact that DOF is clearly a work-in-progress and still needs some optimization, the review states that the game shows a great effort to please, and could fight directly against the greats of the genre.

MMOGamer.es discusses the many modes of DOF gameplay, for both online and offline players. They are especially pleased with the level of unit management and considers Dawn of Fantasy a very ambitious MMORTS, although it still has some bugs from the beta which need to be cleared up before release.

A very informative review calling Dawn of Fantasy interesting, innovative, promising, and a "pleasant surprise." Once the previewers started a city and got down the basics of gameplay, they really enjoyed the smoothness of the missions, resource gathering, and city construction, praising the simplified Great Tree building construction for the Elves. HardGame enjoys the diversity of game modes and management capabilities, and commended the number of large updates to the beta version they experienced, suggesting that any quirks in DOF will be sorted out in time for release.

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"The sky grows lighter my friends. The break of day should cheer the heart. But for us, sunrise brings only bloody war. Make thou ready. Defend my people well." - Prince Erian IV, Dawn of Fantasy

New: Reverie sat down with our friends from the boot at GameSource.it to discuss MMORTS gameplay and Dawn of Fantasy' unique mix of micro- and macro-management strategies. Also included are seven exclusive screenshots, including shots of the new World Map, stronghold development, and the elven stronghold of Gelmeerim.

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"The sky grows lighter my friends. The break of day should cheer the heart. But for us, sunrise brings only bloody war. Make thou ready. Defend my people well." - Prince Erian IV, Dawn of Fantasy

yes good interview. and also i saw u guys are wanting this to be all on 1 server? YES!!!!!!.....ive wanted that since the beginning, i really hope itll work out all on 1 server cuz if theres more than 1 server that would be really stupid

Nice interview. Wish the site questions had a bit better English, but you guys were impeccable. It's cool to hear that you guys plan on keeping players in one instance, rather than messing people up by forcing them to choose servers their friends may not be on. Interesting stuff.

Also, I'm very intrigued by the idea that microing a specific set of units can increase their productivity that much. I've seen that they have heals and all that, but we haven't seen much of formations yet. Cool thought, long ad I don't have to be a hotkey lord to master it .

I don't think this is the Fantasy Friday, since it doesn't have the usual "Fantasy Friday ____:_____"If you know what I mean
Alex posted a great post about the lore here:http://dof.heavengames.com/cgi-bin/f...=37,334251,,30
First post, tells a bit about the races amongst other things.

And if any of you would like a real blast from the past, you could also check out our interview with DGDN from back in 2003. Of course, today's Dawn of Fantasy is miles different but it's a fun article. Ex-T is Kon, who was a big deal even way back then, and our Lead Programmer is mentioned in there too.

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"The sky grows lighter my friends. The break of day should cheer the heart. But for us, sunrise brings only bloody war. Make thou ready. Defend my people well." - Prince Erian IV, Dawn of Fantasy

And if any of you would like a real blast from the past, you could also check out our interview with DGDN from back in 2003. Of course, today's Dawn of Fantasy is miles different but it's a fun article. Ex-T is Kon, who was a big deal even way back then, and our Lead Programmer is mentioned in there too.

man i have to say the game looked horrible back then, im so glad u guys took the time and did the job u did, this game looks awesome